


supernova

by Alien_Humanologist



Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:56:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28858461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alien_Humanologist/pseuds/Alien_Humanologist
Summary: I wanted to create a spacedogs story that accurately depicted autism seeing as I am an author with Aspergers. Anyways, I'm a big fan of slow burn and more elements will be added as the story progresses.
Relationships: Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	supernova

I hated the idea of moving out of me and my dad’s old apartment. It felt. Wrong. 

Harlan said I had to find a job in order to keep this place alongside the money that got passed to me from my father. I felt jaded, but money is essential in this world I guess. No. not I guess. It really is essential. But finding a job would be the most stressful part of this whole thing.

I didn’t have a car of my own, so that was a definite obstacle in my way. And I doubt Harlan would find it great to have to drive me to my job every single time I had to work. So newspapers around here, online resources and walking would have to do. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------  
A coffee shop. It’s not the best but it would provide sufficient funds for now

I tried to interview for a couple of jobs, typical ones, but none of them had replied or I just completely flunked the interview. Thankfully this coffee shop had actually replied after my interview. Score! 

The pay seems good, surprisingly, so I’m happy with it. 

I went to work for the first day. I walked there, because like I said I can't drive and public transport would be hell on my senses. So I walked through my town to the coffee shop. Its name was Coffee Planet and I found that kind of funny. I think that’s why I applied to it in the first place, but still it’s a charming little place. 

When you get in the shop it has plants here and there, it smells like coffee, but not in an overbearing way. Just a nice comforting smell along with the euphony of calming music. It’s not pop that makes you feel like whoever wrote it just melted cotton candy with water and poured it through your ears, no, it was a sort of….indie music? Indie rock? I’m not sure if that makes sense but it had some nice guitar and vocals that didn’t remind you of gross sticky bubble gum. 

Anyways, going in there I met the manager. She was nice. And not patronizing. Surprisingly.

“Hi! Welcome to your first day here at Coffee Planet, my name is Evelyn but you can call me Eve, i’ll be showing you the wraps around here.”

She stuck her hand out to me, decorated with a beaded bracelet and some green nail polish. I stared at her hand, I think she expected me to shake it so I did. Didn’t really feel like shaking anyone’s hand that day. Hopefully Eve's hand would be the only one I had to shake. 

She showed me the ropes and took me to where I'd be manning the ship. Which is the area for grinding coffee beans. Eve said that since i was just a beginner i’d be doing the basic tasks and after i’d been here i could move on to something else. But the basic premise was that I had to wear an apron and grind coffee beans. Simple and easy.   
\--------------------  
Work was easy and I was advancing fast. Apparently I was such a fast learner that Eve thought that it was time to start letting me serve coffee. The orders were fairly plain here, most New York workers just wanted a basic americano- espresso with some added hot water. That was simple enough, and it easily shifted into my routine. 

Unfortunately, a man started coming into the cafe and it sort of threw me for a loop. 

The man had a forlorn expression, sandy blonde hair that had a few greys here and there and the most interesting scars. He had a star shaped scar on his forehead. I was mesmerized but I never said anything to him. 

“I’ll just have a black coffee.” 

“Ok. can I get a name for this order?” 

He paused for a bit, looking pained as if he was trying to decide what to say for his name, he eventually looked up at me, in my eyes and said “Nigel.” 

His staring made me nervous and I instantly flickered my eyes to anywhere but him. 

“Not fond of eye contact huh?” 

“I...Yeah..” I paused, “sorry.”

He laughed softly and replied, “nothing to be sorry about….Adam.” his eyes flickered to my name badge and back up at me… He waved and then sat down to wait for his order to be ready. Somehow I didn't want anyone else to prepare his order. His voice was gravelly and really soothing to the ear. It was like a supernova blast to me. I didn’t say anything again. 

A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star. A supernova happens where there is a change in the core, or center, of a star. ... One of the stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star. Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter. Having too much matter causes the star to explode, resulting in a supernova. I think Nigel is the change that causes my world to explode. My world being serving coffee to business people and girls that wear ugg boots when uggs are not very useful as a good shoe or rather, boot. 

I gave him his order of black coffee. He did not say that he wanted any sugar or milk or anything else that would suggest the name of a different coffee so I made it just as he asked and served it to him. It made me nervous to look at him. He was strong and charismatic. 

He looked at me and smiled, and he said to me, “thank you, gorgeous.” 

His eyes were sad and it made me feel like he wasn’t really smiling. Not like Harlan. And definitely not like dad. Also, my name isn’t “gorgeous”, it’s adam. So I told him. 

“My name is Adam...sir.” 

He laughed again and apologized, then took a sip of his coffee 

“Fuck!” 

He set his coffee down and covered his mouth with his hand before exclaiming something in a language I didn't understand. The coffee had a covering on it that said “caution: contents hot”. He did not read it I guess. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day Nigel came back and ordered the same coffee. I liked that. It was simple and expected. I could associate that face with the same order instead of something elaborate and complex. Stress free. 

He went over to a table, it wasn’t the same table which kind of upset me a little but I didn't say anything, trying not to be rude. Dad always said not to let other people’s changes of routine bother me, what I should shift my worry on more is my own routine. I’m not in control of other people’s actions so i shouldn’t worry when other people do something that I wouldn’t. 

He waited for his coffee to cool this time and that made me smile, I couldn't control that. It wasn’t anything particularly funny, really. It was more of an observation that he changed his habits of drinking coffee right away in order to avoid burning his taste buds. I wondered how long it took for him to recover. 

When stars die they don’t come back. They get replaced by another star and in turn when that one dies another replaces it. It’s a cycle. It's never the same star. I thought about how when Nigel burned his taste buds it was those cells that got replaced with new ones to drink the same coffee the next day. 

That’s when he decided to smoke a cigarette. In our establishment. 

“Excuse me sir, you’re not supposed to smoke in this establishment.” I told him with those words exactly. 

He looked at me with a face that I couldn't place. It was something cold and mean. It sent shivers down my spine. But he eventually said, ‘sorry, darling.” and put out the cigarette with his thumb. I cringed watching the display and he walked out of the cafe as soon as he put out his cigarette. I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on in his mind at all. 

Usually when he spent time in our cafe he just sat there but it looked like he was writing something, a letter maybe?

On the paper, there was lettering that looked surprisingly neat. The letters were loopy and overall it did not look like the writing of a man that was just previously sitting there, smoking, and scowling. 

It had scratches through some words and in a bigger font than the rest of the letter, it read 

“My darling Gabi,” 

I wondered if that was his wife or a friend close to him. I couldn’t help but swipe the letter to read for myself, after all, Nigel wasn’t there to confiscate it from me or anything so I did what my brain wanted me to do at the moment. 

The letter proceeded with details talking about a woman named Gabi who was definitely romantically involved with Nigel. Nigel talked about her being nonsensical and that she should get rid of the divorce papers. So. obviously they were having relationship issues. 

I wasn’t the best in the romance field. Like, at all. But clearly he needed someone to talk to if the language he was using in this letter was any indicator. Way too much cursing.. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went home that day thinking of what on earth to say to him. 

I tried to write down a list of how to begin talking to him about what seemed to be the issue and decided to find some books about dealing with divorce. 

Or at least I tried to think before I heard yelling. The voice sounded familiar. It was Nigel, except I'd never heard him yell before. It scared me. He was yelling at someone named “Darko”. What a weird name. But anyways I assume it was on the phone because I didn’t hear Darko replying to him. The yelling made my brain feel like it was on fire. I couldn’t think or feel or see. I just felt like every nerve was on fire and I could hear my breathing, uneven and harsh next to his yelling. I had to do something to make this feeling stop. 

As soon as I mustered up enough strength to stand I went to where I could hear his yelling the loudest and knocked on the door. 

“What do you want you cun- hey what the fuck?” Nigel opened the door with a colorful vocabulary and then murmured something in his phone before shoving it in his pants pocket. 

“Hey ain’t you the kid that works at the coffee shop?” he stuck his tongue out just the slightest, squinting his eyes and snapping his fingers as if trying to remember

“Coffee Planet?”

He smiled and said “yeah!” he paused and then recalibrated whatever it was he wanted to say to me 

“But anyways, what do you want?” he pulled out a cigarette pack, a single cigarette, pulled it between his lips and lit it waiting for my response. 

“Y-you’re. Loud. I can't concentrate. Makes my brain feel like it’s on fire.” 

A singular eyebrow raised on his, he took a drag and then blew some smoke on my face, I coughed and fanned it away with my hands. 

“That wasn’t very nice-”

“Tell ya what, kid. I’ll mind my own business when you’re workin' and in your place, and you in return will mind your own fucking business about me, huh? How does that sound?” 

I frowned and replied, “first, I am not a kid. I am almost 30. Second, I can’t mind my own business because I can hear you from my room! And lastly, you aren’t supposed to smoke in here, the tar from it will ruin the wallpaper and it ruins your lungs and YOU’RE supposed to smoke outside!-” 

He clenched his fists and took another drag. Then he slammed the door in my face. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day I somewhat dreaded going to work. I expected Nigel to show up again and this time I wasn't quite sure I wanted to serve him. Or see him. 

I knew that if I saw him I would freak out and hyperventilate, I didn’t know if I should tell Eve or not. I guess I was breathing too hard without noticing it because Eve put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me aside. Oh god she's gonna fire me. Because I can't be normal. My eyes started watering and I was breathing even harder, I was drumming my hands on my thighs to try to calm myself down.

“Hey, Adam.. You ok buddy?” she looked at me with concern in her eyes. I didn’t reply and I knew that was fucked up but I couldn't say anything because it felt like my throat closed up on its own and I couldn't articulate any words 

“It’s ok if you need a break or a day off.” I made a confused noise when she said that

“Do..you know? About my Aspergers?” why else would she be asking me to take a day off or a break? It isn't normal to be telling your employees to be taking breaks...even if they need one..

“What?” Eve said, her face painted with confusion, but she sobered quickly. 

“OH! No, Adam you just look like you’re having a hard time right now, if you want to talk about it I’m here? We can have the other employees take over for now.” 

I stared at her and then looked down at my fingers, picking at them while drumming my leg to soothe my nerves. 

“Well, it’s about this one customer that always comes here..”  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After telling Eve about Nigel she let me do whatever I felt I needed to do. I would feel guilty not being in here for the next couple of hours so I hung out in the backroom grinding coffee beans and not serving customers. Thankfully Nigel didn’t show up that day. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went to work the next day not so worried about Nigel, seeing as he didn’t show up. Maybe he decided to go to another coffee shop with a different barista, one that didn’t tell him to quiet down after he yelled furiously into his phone a couple of doors down from the aforementioned barista. 

“La naiba..” 

Nigel was at the entrance of our shop. He was pacing, it looked like he was deciding whether to go in or not. He repeated the same phrase he said outside and went in obviously trying to avoid eye contact with me, which i was completely fine with. 

Ugh. 

“Shit.. is that him?” Eve said sliding near me. I nodded and exhaled roughly through my nose. 

“Do you want me to take over for you?”she asked. I thought about it, the thought of having her deal with him made me feel a little better but i also wanted to get back into my routine. 

“No. I’ll handle it.”


End file.
